And Together We Rise
by Sleep Vitamin
Summary: Look, this wasn't supposed to happen to me, okay? All I wanted to do was save Hyrule from the hands of Ganondorf. But instead, I get stuck with a guy I know all too well living in a world he doesn't belong, an evil maniac trying to take over MY world, and piles of homework to take care of. Well, at least I'm stuck with the cute one. Post OoT. OCxLink story.
1. Danger

I shouldn't have even allowed the thought to pop into my head during my English class earlier that day, but since the idea of returning to the digital kingdom of Hyrule came up due to a simple triangle drawing on the board, it was all I could think about until, finally, I was able to drive home in a rather rushed pace and slam the _Ocarina of Time_ cartridge into my faithful Nintendo 64.

There were other things I could have been doing. I knew I had homework, I knew my black lab Shadow (creative name, isn't it?) very much needed a bath, and I knew that errands needed to be taken care of before my aunt returned home from work, but for some reason, I needed this. After all, it had been almost a year since I saved all the Hyrulians, Gorons, Zoras, etc.

Besides, it was only the second week of my senior year of high school. Homework could easily be made up. Dogs were supposed to be smelly and dirty. That's what made them dogs. And if I drove fast enough, I could get to the post office and stores before my legal guardian came back.

As I waited for the Nintendo 64 logo to spin around and slide into the beginning theme music, I slipped my pants off; a guilty pleasure I found most important for my world-saving adventure. It seemed as if I couldn't play as well unless pants were absent.

_You're such a weirdo, Ella._

I could hear my aunt's voice now. She wasn't much older than me. Being the age of 22 made a five-year difference between us. Although she was basically my best friend (I called her my sister more often than my aunt), she couldn't grasp the fact that any video game needed to lack the use of pants.

Bringing my attention back to my TV, I became aware that the game had frozen three seconds into the theme, even though the music kept playing. No big deal. Games like this (old games, no doubt. 2012 was such an amazing year, what with its realistic graphics and high-speed consoles. Bleh) had a tendency to freeze up.

I flicked the power off and removed the game, blowing heavily into the bottom of it in hopes to rid it of any dust hiding away in the cracks. I'd obviously abandoned the game for far too long. Poor thing.

Just as I was finished, a loud crash nearly made me jump right out of my skin. I placed the cartridge back into the console, turned it on, and snuck my way into the den. Shadow must've gotten into something in the kitchen, but when I saw him lying comfortably on the couch, I knew that wasn't the case at all.

In fact, everything was just how it should've been. Nothing was broken on the ground, nothing had toppled over (which, in all honestly, I expected to be my aunt's overflowing bookcase), and nothing had created a large hole in the wall.

I glanced at my dog, who had one eye open as if to say, "Put some damn pants on, you freak."

And in return, I thought, "Speak for yourself, you hypocrite."

I chewed on the inside of my lip, twirling a few strands of my lengthy auburn hair around my pointer finger. I loved my hair, although I occasionally received the "ginger" comments, and the way it cascaded down my back in a wavy sense. I had a soul, okay? I wouldn't be alive if I didn't.

Shadow followed me back into my room and happily took a seat on my bed. I frowned to show him he didn't own the place, but I think he knew I thought everything about him was adorable.

The game was frozen again. This time, the logo hadn't even had a chance to revolve in the darkness. I went to turn the power off once again, but just as my finger touched the plastic, a low growl came from Shadow. I turned around, wondering just what he was growling at.

He stood straight on my bed, his tail curled dangerously. His lips were pulled back to reveal his lines of sharp teeth and ears lie flat against his head. His chocolate eyes locked with the Nintendo 64.

"What's your problem?" I asked him, moving away from the game.

"Inferior beast!" a deep, raspy voice said from nowhere.

In a quick flash, Shadow was down on my bed, whimpering in pain. I hadn't even seen what happened, but naturally, my body lunged for his, covering his entire dog body. There was a splatter of blood on his left leg and on my sheets, and now on my bare skin.

I began to panic, my breathing speeding up and my heartbeat pounding loudly in my ears. I couldn't see what had hurt my dog, or who for that matter. Something was in my room and obviously it wasn't happy about something I did.

I turned to look at the TV again. A face stared directly at me – a face I'd seen many times throughout my childhood. The green skin, red eyes, maniacal grin. Ganondorf. But how?

"Defeat will turn to you and will come in numbers," he told me. The way his lips moved was too real, as if he was actually a real person. "Just as you've subjected me to for far too many years."

There was another flash of pain and this time, I was the one who felt it. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt. My entire body seemed to be set ablaze. Everything suffered a burning sensation; my fingertips, my toes, my internal organs. I collapsed on my bed, just barely missing Shadow.

My vision became fuzzy after that. I stared straight, watching everything that happened before me. Ganondorf _crawled_ from my TV, obtaining an entirely new, more human look. His green skin turned peach-colored, long black hair replaced the bright orange, and black eyes warped anew.

"This is all mine," he told himself (or was he talking to me?) before strolling from my room.

I saw him step over something on my floor, which was impossible. My room was always spotless.

Pain surging through my body, I moved myself closer to the edge of the bed, gazing over to the body lying motionless on the ground. Naked, he remained on his stomach.

I knew exactly who this man was. After all, I had been him many, many times. The messy blonde hair gave it away in an instant.

"Link," I whispered, causing a stir from him.

I knew I should've just done my stupid homework.

* * *

**Well, this is an idea I had while in my English class (oh snap). And I decided as a way to celebrate my very last day of high school, I would post this.**

**Anyway, I want to say that I appreciate input and if you have an idea for this story you'd like to see incorporated in, please feel free to message me. After all, I'm writing for you guys, not just myself.**

**I hope you all enjoy this story! Until next time! **


	2. Explainations And Observations

I flung myself from the bed, or tried to, at least. My legs locked as soon as my feet hit the floor and I crumbled next to Link's motionless body. I couldn't find it in me to gather enough courage to try to stand again, so I crawled toward my dresser.

Shorts, that's all I needed. A decent pair of shorts to cover my nearly naked butt.

A whimper from Shadow caused my head to rise up. He was sitting on my bed, eyes scanning my room for the man who had just sent us both into the fetal position. He looked okay, aside from the gash on his leg. But even that looked better than it had a few seconds ago.

Come to think of it, I was beginning to feel better, too. My legs didn't feel as if they were made of jelly and supported me enough to stand on my own. I rummaged through my dresser for something to cover my lower body.

"Laundry," I hissed, finally realizing that most of my clothes (including all of my pants and shorts) were waiting in the laundry room to be cleaned. The only thing I had left were the pants I was wearing earlier in the day.

Slowly and very cautiously, I stepped over Link, hoping he wouldn't wake up. Luckily, he remained unconscious.

I grabbed the pants from the floor and just when I bent over to put them on, a soft moan came from the other person in my room.

"Hn…"

My body froze for only a few seconds before turning to face him. He sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, and looked at Shadow, who had licked his back to wake him up. That was the last thing I wanted.

His head turned and I reacted in the only way I knew how: grabbing my bloodied blanket and throwing it over his head. Shadow reacted, too, in the only way a dog could: thinking this was some stupid game and barking obnoxiously while pouncing on Link's covered (and still naked, may I add) body. That was good. I had bought myself a few seconds to cover myself.

"What is this?!" Link yelled, flailing his arms about to push Shadow from him.

His voice struck odd to me. I'd heard it so many times in short bursts of exclamations, but it still sounded unfamiliar.

Even so, I didn't let this weird thought stop me for even a few seconds to cover myself. I yanked my pants up, buttoned them, and turned my back just in time for Link to throw the blanket into the air and push Shadow back.

"Okay, look!" I yelled, trying to pull myself together enough to put some authority into my voice. "I don't know why you're here or even how you got here, for that matter, but let's get something straight here: you do not push my dog! Ever!"

There was some rustling behind me and I could only assume he was covering himself with the blanket. When I turned around, I sighed in relief that I was right. Link, who was now petting the ever so lovable Shadow, glanced up at me.

"My apologies, ma'am," he said in the softest voice. "I suppose all the excitement caught me off-guard. It shall not happen again."

That was when my authority shattered. "Um, its okay, I guess," I muttered, feeling extremely awkward. Well, I mean, how else were you supposed to feel when you're literally standing right next to your favorite video game character who fell out of your TV and became your dog's favorite human in less than three seconds?

He stood, holding the blanket securely around his waist with one hand. He was much taller than me, a good foot or so, until he bowed in my direction. "My name is Link," he said.

"I-I know," I replied, receiving a very odd look from him. "I mean, my name is Ella. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Ella."

"Just 'Ella' is fine."

Link stood up straight and stared down at me seriously. "I understand I'm not supposed to be here in your world, but I can only pray you trust me when I say that the Hyrule you believe to be a false land is in fact as real as you are."

This bit of information took me a few seconds to process in my head. How could that be true? Hyrule was a kingdom inside of a video game that I had been playing since before I could remember. There was absolutely no way possible that it was real. Did someone slip drugs into my drink at school?

I sat on my bed, feeling as though my legs would give out at any second. "Um, what?"

"Hyrule is real, but not in the same way your world is real. We are controlled by what you deem 'players,' forever fated to live out the same life on a circle of repeat. Ganondorf finally realized what we had been subjected to and now seeks to change his fate by freeing himself here."

I shook my head, intertwining my fingers together to keep my hands from shaking. "I don't believe this crap," I told him bluntly. "You're a character in a video game and so is he. Look, I'm probably dreaming or very sick and I'm hallucinating all this. You'll go away soon enough and I'll go back to saving Hyrule, yet again."

"I only wish it were that way, Ella. I cannot force you to help me, but I do offer my hand in saving your world the way you've saved mine."

I remained silent, waiting to wake up from this crazy acid trip. There was no way this was happening to me. I was just a normal, slightly awkward high school girl with nothing special about her. I didn't take any drugs, I didn't drink. This sort of thing only happens to someone who isn't all there in the head and I certainly was all there.

Taking my silence as a 'no,' Link began to head toward my door. I stood up and stepped on the piece of blanket dragging on the floor behind him, causing it to fall from his waist. Ever so quickly, I covered my eyes with my hands.

"Where do you think you're going, you nudist?!" I yelled.

"To save your world and bring Ganondorf back to mine. I'm the only one who can."

I sighed and turned around, fishing through my drawers again. Luckily, I had snagged a pair of boxers from an ex-boyfriend of mine and failed to ever return them. I doubt he missed them, though. It had been two years.

"Put these on," I told him, throwing the boxers behind me. "Okay, I'll help you, but I still think this is all some sort of sick, twisted joke that someone is playing on me and I'll tell you right now, this is not funny at all."

Link flashed me a small smile and I swear that for a millisecond, my heart stopped beating. "You will not regret this and I swear in the name of Princess Zelda that I will protect you no matter the cost."

"Well," I told him with the same attractive (at least, I hoped it was attractive) smile, "before we save my world, we should probably work on saving you from embarrassment and buy you some clothes. I have some money in my bank account, so we should have enough."

Link shook his head. "I cannot allow you to spend your earnings on me. I will buy my own clothing."

"With what money?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips. "You fell into my world with nothing at all, nudie. If you're going to 'save my world from Ganondorf,' at least allow me the pleasure of buying you something to wear."

With a defeated sigh, he nodded. "Alright," he muttered. "But what am I going to wear until I obtain new clothing?"

I pursed my lips together. That was a good question. I had hoodies that were basically made for men, but the only thing I could muster up for bottoms was a pair of my school sweatpants that were too long for me to wear in public. But in this September weather, Link would be overheating in all that clothing. Especially in Nevada, where it was only cold a month out of the year, if we were lucky.

But then again, Link had survived much worse time and time again.

"Okay, here," I told him, throwing the chosen pieces of clothing at him. After he put them on, I realized just how big I liked my clothes. He looked much smaller in the clothes.

I grabbed my car keys and put Shadow out into the backyard, then turned to face Link, who was staring at my car like it would suddenly grow legs and attack him. Then I remembered that the only type of transportation he was used to was horses.

"This," I told him, moving to his side to unlock his door, "is my 1995 Honda Civic. I named him Reptar. He's not your average horse, but he goes a lot faster."

The car ride to the mall was a bundle of fun in itself. Link asked about every button in the car, played with the radio, and accidentally smacked his nose on the window, not realizing it was rolled up. But other than that, it was almost relaxing and enjoyable, having someone to talk to.

The wave of panic came when I realized I had to explain the situation to my aunt.

* * *

**Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long to update! I, bought a car (a 1995 Honda Civic ;) ) moved out of my mom's house, got an apartment, was without Internet for a while, then bought a laptop! So, that means more updates!**

**But thank you for your patience! I really appreciate it!**


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